


Hear it Resonate

by smiley_seulgi



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 22:49:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15083435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smiley_seulgi/pseuds/smiley_seulgi
Summary: Dahyun and Sana are both stumped by their Musical Performance final - Dahyun must create an original movement of music, while Sana must construct her own song. Together, they both discover what they were lacking in their music and in their lives before they met.





	Hear it Resonate

The music flows from Dahyun’s fingertips as if it were water, spilling forth from her hands in rolling wave after wave of sound. Soft piano notes bounce off the walls of the practice room, creating an odd, yet now familiar sensation within the young pianist.

The practice rooms are sound proofed to perfection, each padded wall sopping up the acoustics ever so slightly and taking the edge off of each note. Due to the soundproofing, the rooms create a muted kind of existence - where there’s no reverb to speak of.

When Dahyun was first introduced to these practice rooms, she was fascinated with the way they worked. She’d sit on the piano bench in the small rectangular box and clap her hands together as loud as she could. She would yell the lyrics to her favorite songs, smash her fingers against the electronic keyboard, garnering the same result over and over again.

Scraps of handwritten sheet music are set in front of Dahyun. There’s a pencil placed thoughtfully behind the curl of her right ear in case if she needed quick access to it. She glares at the scribbles she’d jotted down, leaning forward and furrowing her brows as she deciphered each note and played it accordingly.

Somehow, the piece still didn’t feel right to her, as if it were missing something. Dahyun just didn’t know _what_ yet. More than anything, Dahyun hated when she didn’t know. A million thoughts began racing through her head as her eyes glazed over the pages.

Was the key signature bothering her? Were there too many sharps for her liking, or not enough in the first place? If not that, was her discomfort caused by the time signature? Did she have too many tempo changes?

 “Christ,” the pianist sighed, running a hand through her hair as she studied the pages. “I’m never going to finish on time at this rate.” It was frustrating, hearing something in your head and struggling to find the correct tune for it. Dahyun felt as though she were going around in circles over the music swirling inside her, waiting to be tapped into.

Even with Dahyun’s rare ability of perfect pitch, there were times when the idol found herself stumped. Now, when she called on her musical skills more than ever, she was still coming up short. Distraught, Dahyun checked her wrist watch for the time and sighed.

With a heavy heart and drooping eyelids, Dahyun slowly stood and gathered her music. _All will be well after a good night’s rest_ , she thought to herself. She’d been studying nonstop since that morning, and hadn’t seen the light of day save for when she dragged herself out of bed.

For her music performance class final, her professor assigned everyone to create their own original piece. The arrangement of music was required to have at least two movements in it, and would be performed by the rest of the class as sight reading music in order to gauge whether or not the difficult of their piece was appropriate.

Dahyun had two weeks before the deadline was up, and she’d only managed to create five and a half pages worth of notes so far - a little over half of her first movement. But she needed more, much more, in order to turn in something at least semi-decent, and still had finals to study for. After all, she was majoring in music composition, she needed to put out the best work she possibly could.

Though she’s created scores of music before for fun and for tiny assignments in class, Dahyun didn’t want to cut any corners. She wanted to orchestrate something that would convey her growth in her field, how much she had learned throughout the years. She wanted to surprise her peers and her professor with something so beautiful, it would move them to tears.

Shoving the pages haphazardly into a sleek black portfolio, Dahyun readied herself to leave the safe haven of the silence of the practice room and return to her apartment.

There, in the comfort of her own home away from home, she would dive underneath the blankets of her bed and surrender to the irresistible temptations of some much needed sleep.

However, the moment the pianist stepped out of the sound proofed room and turned to shut the door behind her, she positively froze in place. All thoughts of the comfort of her bed were whisked away from her. Suddenly, Dahyun felt awake and alert.

A haunting, melodious voice called out faintly to her from the practice room across from hers. The door of her own room clicked shut behind Dahyun, but she leans against the thick, translucent glass and waits. She lingers there, staring at the back of the stranger as she continues to sing, transfixed by the sound of her voice.

From what she can tell, the stranger is a woman. She has long, light brown locks the color of rich chestnut that tumble down past her shoulders. She’s tall. Or at least taller than Dahyun is by a few inches.

The woman’s figure is slight, lithe underneath a pair of casual blue denims and a black sweater. Her voice is beyond beautiful; she is a siren calling out to Dahyun, begging the pianist to throw herself overboard. It’s one of the most alluring sounds the pianist has ever heard.

An idea hits Dahyun quickly. The woman’s voice could be exactly what she needed to make her music sound complete. Her mind began to race, trying to think up of ways she could possibly ask this complete stranger to collaborate on her final.

Lightly, Dahyun raps her knuckles against the glass of the stranger’s door to garner the vocalist’s attention. Startled, the woman whirled around on her heel and stared at Dahyun with an unreadable look. The pianist notes that the other woman looks as though she were a siren as well, and finds herself drawn into a pair of captivatingly dark eyes.

“Coffee?” Dahyun asks once the woman opens the door. Her lips part to bring out what she hopes is her most charming smile. After sitting down at a piano bench for five hours straight, Dahyun could only hope she still looked somewhat well-put together.

Perhaps she should’ve checked in the mirror of her phone camera before walking over. For all she knows, her hair could be a mess by now. She rocks back and forth on her heels, waiting for the woman’s response.

“Huh?” Comes the reply, “It’s nearly three in the morning.” The woman’s voice is as gentle as a passing breeze, light and airy above Dahyun’s head. Her expression conveys confusion, endearingly so, with her brows furrowed together and her eyes flicking from in between Dahyun’s eyes and Dahyun’s mouth from behind a pair of smart horn-rimmed glasses.

Dahyun shrugs and hugs her portfolio tighter to her chest. Her grin is still evident, but worn a little at the edges. She’s suddenly unsure if her plan would work after all. “Exactly my point,” the pianist says with a giggle. “I think we could both use a caffeine boost and a break, right? It’s nearly finals week, for Christ’s sake.”

She waits, growing more and more uncertain of herself as the woman stares at her with the same blank expression. The stranger is obviously trying to decide what to do, whether or not to trust Dahyun - a complete stranger, or return to her studying in the practice room.

“You know what...I think there’s a twenty-four hour coffee shop in the library,” the taller woman says at last, easing away Dahyun’s anxiety. She sticks a hand out, waiting for Dahyun to take it. The pair shake hands briefly, smiling at each other shyly. “I’m Sana,” the singer introduces herself, “What’s your name?”

 

**

 

Once Sana hurriedly packed up her music, the pair set off walking through the brightly lit hallways of Kyung Hee University’s music building in silence. Dahyun won’t lie, it wasn’t exactly a comfortable silence. Each of them were shifting through their sleep deprived minds for something at least a little coherent to talk about.

But finals week is finals week, and Dahyun knows Sana must be as tired as she is, so she doesn’t blame either of them for the lack of conversation. They’re both dragging their feet a little bit, shuffling through the empty corridors of the building.

Not surprisingly, they pass a few other students scrambling to study for their own exams. On the sprawl of couches and chairs, Dahyun spies someone sleeping with a textbook covering their face and nearly bursts out laughing at the spectacle.

“What grade are you in, Sana-ssi?” Dahyun asks, starting off their conversation with a classic ice breaker. She holds the door for Sana as they step out of the music building and into the inky dark of night.

In the opaque yellow of the lights lining the paved walkway outside, Sana’s light brown hair seems gilded and the whites of her eyes are stained with the color of egg yolk. Above, constellations wink down at them and the moon steals glances of the earth from behind the sparse cloud cover coating the heavens.

A soft rolling breeze dances around the pair, sending their hair sprawling across their shoulders and the leaves of the freshly budded trees to rustle in approving song. Dahyun hasn’t witnessed a night as beautiful as this in a long time, having been swamped with her course work and being forced to stay indoors and study.

After spending more than a few hours trapped in the practice room, she felt much better out in the fresh air. She hoped Sana felt the same way, that she wasn’t regretting hanging out with a total stranger. “I’m a senior. I’ll be graduating right after this semester wraps up,” Sana replied with a small smile, shyly peeking at Dahyun’s surprised reaction to her age.

Dahyun’s eyebrows had lifted at their own accord, though she quickly fought to regain her composure. “And yourself?” They’re halfway to the library now, footfalls clicking against the solid stone of the pathway. Campus seems deserted save for the two of them - a sprawl of dark rolling hills of grass and trees with thick trunks reaching for the heavens outside of the luminescence of the lamplight.

The beauty of this layout is part of the reason why Dahyun picked this university to attend in the first place. After her first visit to Kyung Hee University, her heart had been captured. It had been mid-spring when she first stepped foot on the campus, a newly christened high school senior searching for her future.

The cherry blossom trees, coupled with the stunning, sweeping architectural feats of the college was a hit and run for Dahyun. She’d seen photos online of the area before arriving, but they did little to prepare her for how awe inspiring the sight was in real life.

As an eighteen year old girl, she’d stared up at the university’s Peace Hall and felt a wave of emotion come over her. Dappled sunlight splashed hues of pastel pink on the impressive structure; it had been nearing sundown when Dahyun’s campus tour had finally made their way around the area.

Not only that, but the music building was also breathtaking. Crown Concert Hall had been one of the last structures their group visited, and were even escorted inside the rich wooden interior for a brief walk through.

The moment Dahyun saw the stage, she knew, no questions asked, that this was where she belonged. She vowed to enroll and get in the same day, and worked hard her last year of high school in order to achieve that goal.

“I’m a junior. I’ve still got _another_ year left,” Dahyun groaned, covering her face with her hands. Despite loving her college, the pianist had to admit - it was _hard_. Harder than she’d anticipated for sure. Sana giggles at this, and playfully smacks the pianist’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry, it’ll all be over sooner than you’ll realize,” Sana says, stifling her laughter with her sweater sleeve. “You’ve already made it this far. This upcoming year will be a blur, I promise.” Dahyun dips her head in agreement, and the pair continue on in a comfortable silence.

“So, what’s your major, Sana-ssi?” Dahyun asks, glancing at the music folder clutched in between the older woman’s ivory fingers. Since they first walked outside, Dahyun had thought up of a long list of questions she wanted to ask her new acquaintance. She could hardly wait to ask each and every single one of them.

“I’m actually an engineering major with a minor in vocal performance,” Sana smiled. Dahyun decided that she really liked seeing the older woman smile. Sana’s eyes crinkle up into half crescent moons and her pupils glitter - flecks of obsidian and pearl reflected in the scattered light surrounding them.

She’s beautiful, Dahyun decides. So distractingly beautiful that Dahyun almost forgets the reason why she’d knocked on the vocalist’s practice room door in the first place. But perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to appreciate the older woman’s beauty just a little while longer.

“Kind of a weird combination, I have to admit – singing and engineering. But I couldn’t really let singing go, I guess,” Sana continues with a shrug. She brushes her slender shoulder against Dahyun’s in a way that makes her feel as if they’ve known each other for years rather than twenty minutes. “What about you?”

“I’m a music composition major,” Dahyun said, gesturing towards her leather portfolio. “I was actually working on my performance class before we met. My professor assigned all of us to compose our own original piece, and we’ll all be sight reading each other’s works the same day we turn it in. I wonder how the rest of my class is handling it, I don’t feel very confident in my piece.”

“My vocal performance professor assigned virtually the same thing to _my_ class, too!” Sana exclaimed, lifting her own music folder. They’re at the doors of the library now, looming above them like the castle out of Hogwarts. “I was rehearsing my song when you knocked on my door,” the vocalist explained while holding the door open for Dahyun.

As soon as they enter the library, their voices become hushed whispers. Sana leans down and her breath fans across the shell of Dahyun’s ear as she directs them towards the stairwell. “Maybe we should listen to each other’s pieces and give each other feedback,” she murmurs, winking at Dahyun before taking the lead. Luck seemed to be on Dahyun’s side tonight.

Cheeks flushing crimson, Dahyun diverts her attention from Sana’s flirtations by scanning their surrounds as they climb to the third floor of the sprawling building. Row upon row of tall book shelves, stacked high with volumes of text cover nearly every inch of the floor.

There’s a straggle of studying students crowding the long, oak tables of the first floor, sharing hushed words or silently typing away on their lit laptops. It’s eerily quiet, albeit rightfully so. She wishes she were surprised to see this many students milling about, but she knew as the days stretched on, the amount of them would steadily increase.

Everyone should be asleep at this hour. Yet here Dahyun was, lining up outside the library’s coffee shop next to a beautiful girl she’d just met half an hour ago behind a long queue of other exhausted college students.

Not that Dahyun was complaining, of course. She was practically ecstatic with how things were unfolding between her and Sana. Staying up another hour or so would definitely be worth it in the long run if she was spending it with the vocalist.

From the looks of things so far, Dahyun would say that she and Sana got along together quite nicely already. It wouldn’t be too difficult to propose her idea after all. “I actually have a recording of mine on my phone,” Dahyun says flashing the voice memo at the older woman.

“I took a video of myself!” Sana replies excitedly, eyes alight and alive. She takes a few steps forward in the line, ducking into the small corner of the coffee shop. The delightful smell of freshly ground coffee beans fill Dahyun’s senses, and she smiles up at Sana. “We can grab a study room and give each other’s recordings a listen.”

 

**

 

The pair find themselves a little nook in the library between the shelves of paperback scientific journals. Dahyun sinks into the leather of a worn out armchair and sighs contentedly into her macchiato. Honestly, she doesn’t know why she asked Sana to coffee. Being in the older woman’s presence alone was enough to wake Dahyun up from her stupor.

“Shall we exchange parts?” Sana asks, taking the initiative between the two of them. The vocalist flashes a coy grin, taking a large gulp of her brown sugar latte. Reluctantly, Dahyun passes over her portfolio and cell phone while Sana mirrors her actions.

She extracts her wound up earbuds from her jacket pocket and plugs them into Sana’s phone. “Don’t laugh,” Dahyun jokes, flashing a worried smile in Sana’s direction. Although the pianist was somewhat confident in her work so far, Dahyun had to admit she felt jittery whenever sharing her music with someone else to gauge their opinion on it.

There was something extremely intimate about allowing someone to listen to a movement that she created herself.   _Perhaps it was that way for everyone_ , Dahyun thought as she surrendered herself to Sana’s judgements by passing her phone across the coffee table.

“I won’t as long as you don’t laugh at mine,” Sana winked playfully in response. Excitedly, the vocalist hooks her own set of earbuds into Dahyun’s phone. “I’ve got an idea! We should start at the same time,” Sana exclaims in a hushed whisper, leaning forward in her seat so that their foreheads nearly brush together.

She holds Dahyun’s phone out, the voice memos app clearly displayed across the illuminated screen. Her thumb is delicately hovering over the red play button, and she looks at Dahyun expectantly. “Oh, right,” the pianist mumbles, mirroring Sana’s actions. Their knuckles brush together as Dahyun readies herself to start Sana’s video.

“Three...two... _one_ ,” Sana mouths, eyes locked with Dahyun’s so intensely the pianist almost forgets to jab the play button. In an instant, the sound of Sana’s song floods into Dahyun’s ears. While the vocalist’s smooth, honeyed voice envelops her, Dahyun takes the time to really take in Sana’s features.

Sana truly is beautiful. With her hair down and her spectacles flashing in the white lights overhead, the vocalist almost looked like an angel. Without any backtrack or instruments, Dahyun was tuned in solely on Sana’s vocals, on the formation of her words. Dahyun decides that Sana’s voice is just as beautiful as Sana is herself. Not only did she look the part of an angel, she sounded like one, too.

She hoped that Sana would like her piano piece. She prayed that her creation wasn’t as terrible as she thought it was. Dahyun kept her gaze trained on dark wood of the table, listening, observing, taking everything in slowly.

There was Sana sitting across from her like some kind of heavenly vision. There was a beautiful voice meandering in her ears. It was nearly four a.m. and she felt as though she were on fire, more awake than ever thanks to both Sana’s presence and the coffee she’d chugged down.

Sana’s song felt like a sad goodbye - like the way a sigh sounds and feels like when coupled with shed tears. It conveyed emotions so raw that Dahyun feels a sparkle glazing over her vision, tugging at the very heart strings in her chest.

When the three minutes and thirty-five seconds of the video are nearly up, Dahyun watches Sana on the screen. The singer clears her throat and then reach for the phone’s pause button, smiling to herself and the camera, and then the video frame freezes.

Slowly, Dahyun looks up. Sana’s already taken out her own earbuds, twirling them in between her fingers as she waited for Dahyun’s reaction. “Holy shit,” Dahyun murmured. At this, Sana’s expression fell, anticipating the worst rather than the best reaction.

Quickly, Dahyun set down Sana’s phone and clasped a hand over the singer’s. “Whoa, hold on. You didn’t let me finish! That was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard,” the pianist gushed. Just like that, Sana was smiling again, as if Dahyun had flipped a switch.

 “You really think so?” The vocalist asked, shyly looking down at their hands. Dahyun nodded enthusiastically, “Absolutely! You sounded like some kind of angel, swear to god!” Sana giggled, and lazily slipped her phone out of Dahyun’s grip.

As they exchanged phones, Sana tilted her head to the side and Dahyun got lost in her eyes. The vocalist’s innocent gaze transformed into something darker, something deeper. Her pupils were full of something Dahyun couldn’t exactly place a name on, but made her feel jittery all the same.

It felt like Sana was staring into her soul and seeing Dahyun for the first time, for all that she was and all she would ever be. The pianist tried to ignore the way the hairs of her neck stood up and the wave of embarrassment came rolling over her body, hot and heavy.

She cleared her throat and looked away, tucking her phone into her back pocket, trying in vain to keep Sana from seeing the blush creeping over her pale features. “What did you think about mine, Sana-ssi?” She asks, attempting to distract the older woman.

Transfixed, Dahyun remained rooted in her seat as Sana leaned over across the table again. Smooth skin, tantalizing eyes, and a pair of rouge lips filled her vision, and she couldn’t help but allow her eyes to flick down to Sana’s parted mouth as the vocalist came closer.

If Dahyun didn’t know any better, she’d say there was seduction gleaming in Sana’s impossibly black eyes. “I think…,” the vocalist draws out, eyelashes fluttering as she steals a glance at Dahyun’s mouth. The pianist gulps as subtly as she can at the sound of Sana’s voice.

The sound is lower and huskier than the tone been using before. Sana sees Dahyun’s reaction and smirks ever so slightly. The sight makes Dahyun’s chest tighten up. It’s almost as if the older woman is challenging Dahyun to admit her attraction.

She feels a single finger settle underneath her jaw, tilting her head up to meet Sana full on. For a moment, she wonders if Sana might kiss her there, in the middle of the library, at nearly half past four in the morning.

Surprisingly, Dahyun doesn’t feel as opposed to kissing a near complete and total stranger as she’d originally imagined. She would have instantly leaned into the touch had Sana not been so dangerously close, with her breath fanning against Dahyun’s face.

“You’re very talented with your fingers. You know that, right?” Dahyun nearly sputters in shock at how innocent and somehow _seductive_ the words came from Sana’s mouth. The vocalist giggles and lets the pad of her finger slip slowly off of the skin of Dahyun’s throat.

Sana takes her seat and downs the rest of her coffee, showing off the sculpted muscles of her neck as she does so. When she sets the cup down, her eyes begin burning through the pianist’s soul once more as her tongue darts out to lap away the liquid.

For the second time that night, Dahyun wonders what it would be like to feel Sana’s lips on hers. Her eyes follow the motion of Sana’s lick, envisioning the sensation, the heat of her tongue stealing a kiss. It should alarm the pianist just how quickly she’s become attached to this woman, how easily she’s become enamored with her.

She wonders why she’s perfectly okay with how the atmosphere around them had melted into something much more heated than helping each other out with a project. Since when had she ever flirted with anyone as outright as this? Quickly, Dahyun pushes those thoughts away.

Besides, how could she even begin to try to think clearly when there was a beautiful and talented woman flirting with her, looking at her as if she were everything she’d been looking for in the first place? “You should show me sometime, Dahyun-ssi,” Sana giggles again, winking at her from across the table.

Dahyun takes a deep breath, licking her lips nervously. She does her best to ignore Sana’s blatant flirtations and get back to the true reason why she had knocked on the vocalist’s practice room door. “Well...I think I can have something like that arranged,” she muttered before diving in to her proposition.

 

**

 

“So…,” Sana trails off, a thoughtful look playing over her face. Dahyun stared across the table, anxious to see what the vocalist’s reaction would be. Sana leans back until the front legs of her chair tilt up, arms crossed over her chest, pondering on Dahyun’s idea. “Was all this just a ploy to use me for my voice, Dahyun-ssi?”

 Alarmed, Dahyun shook her head furiously, eyes wide in their sockets. “What? No way!” The pianist exclaimed, earning her a soft “shh” from behind the rows of bookshelves beside their table. After a moment of held breath for fear of being reprimanded by one of the university’s many librarians, Dahyun continues on in a quieter voice.

“I mean, we could help each other out. This would be a mutually beneficial arrangement,” she murmurs, splaying her hands out. She runs a hand through her hair, trying to search of more reasons why Sana would want to sing for her music. “I could write an accompaniment for your piece and play it with you!”

Even after her explanation and adding on writing an accompaniment for her own song, Sana still doesn’t seem entirely convinced. She begins playing with the rim of her empty coffee cup, one eyebrow cocked at Dahyun. “Why me, Dahyun-ssi? I’m sure I’m not the only vocalist you know on this campus.”

“Okay, okay,” Dahyun sighed. She pinched the bridge of her nose before continuing. “Honestly, I don’t really have a lot of friends in my class I can collaborate with, even though I feel like there’s something missing in my piece. When I heard your voice...well.” Dahyun shrugged and grinned. “I knew I wanted to partner up with you if I could. So…can we pretty please work together on this?”  

Sana taps her chin, acting as though she were mulling it over. “I’d love to! We could go back to my room if you want,” Sana says, her voice dipping into the slightly seductive tone she’d used earlier. Dahyun positively blushes in vibrant hues of pinks and reds, head bowed. “What’s the matter?” Sana asks innocently, tapping Dahyun on the shoulder.

“Relax...I was just talking about the practice rooms,” the vocalist says. Then she giggles, and Dahyun joins in with her own soft, albeit nervous, laughter. “Ah...it’s a little late now for practice, though. Isn’t it?” Sana looked at her phone screen’s display for the time.

The pianist nods her head, glancing at her wristwatch. “We should probably head home if we want to get up for classes tomorrow, Dahyun-ssi.” They stand from their seats and pad through the library towards the exit. “Thanks for the coffee,” Sana says sweetly, holding the door open for Dahyun again. The pianist blushes beneath the dim yellowed hue of the building’s lamplight. “No problem,” she murmurs.

They exchange a quick hug that has Dahyun’s heart nearly beating through her chest, and then Sana turns on her heel, heading in the opposite direction Dahyun needs to go in. She watches her go, standing outside the steps of the elegant building, listening to the crunch of gravel and grass beneath Sana’s shoes before she snaps back to her senses.

“Wait a second!” Dahyun calls, racing after the older woman. “Sana-ssi!” She nearly slips on the dew coated lawn as she approaches Sana, who’s gazing at her with a confused look. “Oh? Are you going to give me a goodbye kiss, Dahyun-ssi?” The vocalist teases, smirking to herself when she notices Dahyun becoming flustered again.

As she fidgets with her phone, Dahyun rolls her eyes. “What? _No_!” The vocalist cocks her head to the side, an adorable quirk Dahyun notes to herself. “What is it then?” Sana asked, frowning ever so slightly. She almost seemed disappointed Dahyun declined the offer, but she brushed that away. “Hang on,” the pianist replies.

Slipping her phone out from her back jeans pocket, the pianist hurriedly taps in her password combination and begins flicking through her apps. A moment later, she holds the screen out for the older woman to see, smiling triumphantly up at her.

“I thought we should exchange phone numbers. You know, that way we can arrange a time we can meet up for our project,” Dahyun explains, gesturing to her phone’s display as she holds it out for Sana to take.

“I see, I see,” Sana murmurs, swiping the device from the other girl’s grasp. While her nimble thumbs dance over the tiny screen, Dahyun takes in Sana’s side profile. Her eyes traveled down the long and curled lashes to Sana’s sharp, strong nose, then down to the gentle curl of her red lips.

She was just beginning to appraise the curve of Sana’s jaw when the vocalist hummed in delight, passing Dahyun back her phone. As Sana breaks out her own phone for Dahyun to punch in her digits, the pianist pauses for a moment, squinting at her phone screen.

“You saved yourself as Sana-chan?” Dahyun murmured to herself, staring at the freshly made contact. Beside her, the vocalist nods happily, busy pulling up her own contact list. “That’s right!” Dahyun looks up, still puzzled. “Wait a second, are you...Japanese?”

She fumbles with her hands when Sana holds out her phone. “I am! Couldn’t you tell by my accent when I sang?” Dahyun chuckles to herself, “I didn’t want to pry too soon. I thought you might’ve been, but then again you might’ve been from around Gyeongsang or Busan.”

Sana nods slowly, watching silently as Dahyun typed in her phone number and set her contact name. “Your Korean is excellent, Sana-ssi,” she praised when she handed the older woman her phone back.

“Minatozaki Sana- _chan_ ,” the vocalist emphasized, giving Dahyun a pointed look. The pianist laughed, throwing her head back. “Okay, okay,” she said, caving beneath Sana’s irresistible charm. “Goodnight, Sana-chan,” Dahyun called, turning away.

“Sleep well, Dahyun-chan,” the vocalist hummed, and then began to walk away in the opposite direction. The pianist fought the urge to look over her shoulder at the older woman’s retreating figure. As she walked, she pondered on Sana’s flirty behavior.

The sight of the vocalist’s infectious smile remained plastered in Dahyun’s mind, beaming at her as if she’d set the stars in the sky. No one had ever looked at her like that before, with so much raw emotion that it had twisted her stomach into a nervous mess.

It was half past four o’clock now, but she was more than wide awake. Making her way slowly across the campus towards her campus apartment, Dahyun of nothing but the warmth spreading from her heart to the rest of her body and the odd but alluring Minatozaki Sana.

There was no doubt about it, this was going to be one hell of a final project.

 

**

 

Her and Sana meet up the next day after hours of studying for their separate exams, crammed inside one of the tiny practice rooms of the music building with each other. Music folders are splayed out across the top of the electronic piano. Vivid food wrappers are swept into a small pile beside the piano bench, remnants of their snack break from earlier.

Sana clears her throat once, then twice. She’s studying the rough draft of the part Dahyun had written up to accompany her piano piece while propping herself up against the wall of soundproofing beside the instrument.

Dahyun watches, amused, from her seat on the piano bench as the vocalist mouths the words to herself silently. They’d spent the first fifteen minutes talking over Dahyun’s piano piece, discussing the emotions the pianist wanted to be conveyed, reading the piece together.

“How did you do it?” Sana asks, sending a wave of her chestnut colored locks over her shoulder with the flick of her wrist. They had just finished going through the tempo markings. Dahyun frowned and leaned an arm against the piano cover. Her eyes flicker from the sheet of paper up to meet Sana’s eye.

“How did I do what, Sana-chan?” Giggling, the vocalist sets the paper down and reaches for the next page. “I’m curious as to how you managed to already write so many lyrics in such little time for your song, that’s all,” Sana replied, skimming through the characters. “We’ve only been away from each other for like half a day and you’ve already got pretty much your entire project done, with lyrics included.”

The pianist shrugs her shoulders, trying to appear like Sana’s compliments weren’t coloring the pale skin of her cheeks. “It was kind of easy once I got going, really,” Dahyun mumbled. She waved a pencil at her own copy of the piano piece. “I just thought up of all the other songs I’ve heard that use piano and went from there. They’re all kind of sad, so I just thought up of one of the saddest stories of all time.”

She watches as Sana glances up from the music with interest, “And which story are you trying to convey, Dahyun-chan?” The pianist did her best to break out into a bright smile, lightly smacking at Sana’s arm. They were veering into a topic Dahyun didn’t particularly feel safe delving into just quite yet.

“It’s it obvious from the lyrics, right? It’s about a secret love story between two people discouraged of being together. That’s gotta be the biggest trope, right? _Especially_ in K-Dramas, oh my god.” Dahyun chuckles again, “I fall for it every time myself.”

The Japanese woman giggles and nods her head along to Dahyun’s reasoning somewhat reluctantly. “I suppose you’re right,” she hums. “But this seems a little more controversial than that, though.” She points at the title of the song, printed at the top of the page.

“ _Behind Closed Doors_? And the fact that we’re using female pronouns throughout the whole song? Going off of what I’ve read so far and the fact that I’m the one singing, these lyrics seem to be about a closeted, secret relationship between two women.”

A hand rested itself on top of Dahyun’s shoulder, a comfortable pressure in the midst of the chaos that was becoming the pianist’s racing mind. Sana was smirking, pleased with the way the pianist had effectively become speechless to refute her claims.

To lay it on even more thickly, Sana shoots Dahyun a wink. “But maybe that’s just me reading into things too much.” The next instant, she clears her throat again and reaches for her water bottle, releasing the pianist from her hold.

Dahyun watches as she gulps down a few mouthfuls of the clear liquid. Truthfully, she hadn’t even realized her mistake until Sana pointed it out. In her sleep deprived, final-frazzled mind, she’d written about the first thing that came to mind when it cleared.

 Sana. She’d written a song loosely based on the idea of having a secret relationship with Sana, forbidden by the harsh society of South Korea. _That’s_ the reason why she’d finished the song in record time. Her mind kept overflowing with ideas and melodies and she spent most of the night writing everything out once she got home to her apartment.

Dahyun thought back on the beautiful woman she’d changed upon in the practice rooms, letting her mind weave incredibly complex tales. It was difficult _not_ to think up of anything to say, in fact. She’d barely even slept, she kept jotting down notes and ideas in the dark of her bedroom until the sun slowly rose in the sky and lit up the room.

In a couple hours, Dahyun had managed to churn out a song she was extremely proud of both lyrically and melodically. It was personal, it was deep, it was raw. She knew her professor would absolutely love it. There was nothing quite like _Behind Closed Doors_ , so she was guaranteed at least a A- for the extra effort she was putting in with adding vocals and lyrics to her piano playing.

Everything had gone perfectly smooth during the entire writing process, except for the fact she’d forgotten to switch the pronouns. She was supposed to have changed every “she” into a “he.” Originally, Dahyun had meant to do so at the very end before passing along the pages to the vocalist, but she’d gotten too caught up with studying to remember to change the words around.

Now she was paying for her clumsy mistake with Sana’s constant winks and smirks and affections as she playfully hinted at the song’s true meaning. Not that she wasn’t enjoying the attention, that is. Sana was still as attractive as ever, wearing a form fitting white turtleneck tucked into a pair of distressed black denims.

It was a first for Dahyun to feel so attracted to someone so quickly, but then again, her attention had always primarily been on focusing on her academics. Even though she was nearly twenty-one, she hadn’t really had much luck in the relationship department. Most of her free time was spent practicing the piano or studying for exams.

At least she hadn’t explicitly written the vocalist’s name anywhere in the lyrics. That would’ve truly given everything away and would’ve put them both in a somewhat awkward position. “Well,” Dahyun coughed, breaking out of her stupor.

She opened up the piano and rested her fingers atop the shiny keys. Sana set down her water bottle and looked at her expectantly, still shuffling through her own set of music.

Softly, Dahyun plays a few of the opening chords to warm up her hands a little bit. She could feel the burn of Sana’s eyes on her, watching the way her unpolished nails dance across the pale white of the piano.

Holding out the last chord, Dahyun turned her head and looked over at Sana with a grin. She liked the way the older woman seemed enraptured by the sound of the instrument, eyes wide and expression excited. “Why don’t we try out the first couple bars and go from there?”

 

**

 

Sana delivered with no hesitation, which surprised Dahyun. After working with multiple vocal students, she had found most were shy about expressing and singing in front of complete strangers. But Sana dove straight into the music, unafraid and completely confident in her capabilities as a singer.

Not only was she extremely confident in her voice, Sana incorporated raw emotion into the way she sang. Every word she sang sent a shiver down Dahyun’s spine. While Dahyun had written the lyrics, Sana owned them with her voice and made them hers.

When she could spare the thought to do so, Dahyun would take a peek at the singer’s voice as she hovered just over the pianist’s shoulder. With one hand, Sana held her music, and with the other she made gestures in the air to get into the groove of music and keep her internal tempo going.

It sounded like Dahyun had some kind of mourning celestial being hovering behind her the entire time Sana was singing. The pianist is certain now more than ever that she never would’ve found anyone more perfect than Sana to fit the vision she had for the song.

The emotional range the Japanese woman was giving out was undeniably raw and real, as if she truly were the one experiencing the grief and anguish the lyrics described. Perhaps Sana wasn’t as aloof or happy as she came across as.

Or maybe she’s just extremely gifted at singing from the heart, because Dahyun knows from working with other vocal majors that it was hard to get the words to come out with an intended emotion in mind. Either way, Dahyun knew for a fact that Sana was a damn good singer.

It was difficult not to get swept up in the older woman’s voice. At a few different points within the song, Dahyun nearly forgot to play the right notes because she was too busy tuning into Sana’s melody. Even when she was playing, Dahyun hung onto every word as it fell, honeyed and sweet yet sad and full of loss, from Sana’s parted lips.

And this was only their first rehearsal. What would they sound like when they had the final product down pat? Smiling softly to herself, the pianist listened to the crooning of Sana’s voice and was still grinning when they finished. She had been aware of Sana’s skill after last night, watching the vocalist’s video of her own original song.

But she wasn’t expecting either of them to get the first take done so well. There had been a few minor tempo issues, a couple note length problems, and Dahyun herself slipped on a few of the notes. But other than those few hiccups, they sounded as if they’d been rehearsing for Dahyun’s piece for at least a couple days.

For a split second, she wished they were practicing on a stage or in an auditorium, somewhere where you could hear the resonating music filling the air. The soundproofed walls of the tiny practice room had instantly cut off the music the second Dahyun played the last note and Sana closed her mouth.

The pianist tried to mask her disappointment at the end. She knew that if they performed in an open space she would’ve gotten to hear the perfect blend of Sana’s voice with the piano, would’ve been able to take that artistic pause at the end.

But there would be a time and a place for that, Dahyun thought to herself. They still had to record the final product, and there was no way in hell she’d let them do so in the practice rooms. For starters, she and Sana barely fit within the tight space, even with their backpacks lined up against the far wall and Dahyun’s piano bench pushed all the way forward.

Then there was the dimmed effect of the music itself, how each note was sucked up by the compressing walls. She wanted nothing like that for their recordings. Dahyun wanted open air and freedom, and the sound of Sana’s vocal vibrato shimmering through the air.

“How was that?” The vocalist asked, somewhat nervously. There’s tears dancing in Dahyun’s vision, surprising even herself as she daubs them away with the corner of her shirt sleeve. When had she started crying? Dahyun couldn’t remember, though she felt them prickling down her cheeks.

“Wow...that good, huh?” Sana jokes, stacking up the papers on the top of the piano as she watches Dahyun wipe away at her face. “Shut up,” Dahyun sniffles, shooting a death glare in the vocalist’s direction. Sana giggles, then turns to rummage around in her backpack.

“Here, take some of these.” A small packet of unopened Kleenex tissues is held out to her, and Sana’s eyes are warm and melt Dahyun’s insides when she looks up. The older woman’s kind gesture makes Dahyun want to cry even harder.

“This way you don’t soil your shirt as much,” Sana says in her sweet voice. Gently, she presses the tissues into Dahyun’s open palm. The pianist isn’t even sure why she’s crying in the first place, but the flow of tears hasn’t stopped since their last note.

She fumbles with the soft plastic seal of the packaging in vain, squinting through the glittering of her eyes. “Oh...Dahyun-chan,” Sana murmurs, taking the tissues from the pianist’s shaking hands. She motions for Dahyun to move over a little bit on the piano bench, and then promptly sits beside her.

Casting a worried look over Dahyun’s troubled expression, Sana freed a handful of tissues and set about drying the pianist’s tears herself. Dutifully, Dahyun shut her eyes and allowed the vocalist to continue brushing away her tears.

“At least let me know these aren’t tears of anguish from my voice or something,” Sana chuckles. “I mean, I know I’m not the greatest at singing, but…,” she trails off, folding the corners of the tissue in her hands. Feeling a little foolish about bursting into tears in front of someone she’d only met yesterday, Dahyun sighed and put a hand to her forehead.

She was supposed to be chic and attractive whenever she was around Sana, and yet here she was; a mess of hot tears and puffy lips and a red nose. Thankfully she wasn’t full on sobbing, that would truly be hard to recover from.

When she had swiped away at the last water droplet, Sana withdrew the fluffy white tissue from her face and leaned back, patiently waiting for Dahyun to compose herself. She was giving the pianist that look again, Dahyun could see it from out of the corner of her eyes. That look so full of emotion, a swirl of wanting and hoping and loving and worrying.

The sound of the pianist sniffling fills the room, and Sana bites her lip, worry etched across her flawless features. “I’m in awe,” Dahyun begins once she’s found her voice again. “You put so much feeling into the music...how’d you do it? I’ve collaborated in group projects with kids who can hold a pitch but can’t tap into emotions like that.”

She chuckles to herself, studying the singer sitting beside her, “I _felt_ that. Whatever you did, it was amazing!” Dahyun reaches out a hand and sets it on top of Sana’s thigh, leaning in to emphasize her words. “It’s even better than I’d imagined in my head. What’s your secret?”

Sana smiled, sad and soft, like the slow goodbye of a long-lost lover. “I’ve experienced all of this first hand, Dahyun-chan.” The vocalist gestured to her music with her index finger, “I know what it’s like to live ‘behind closed doors’ and keep a secret hidden from everyone else.”

Dahyun’s eyes widen. Her brows furrowed together for a split second. “Are you...?” The pianist points in between them, “Are you saying what I think you’re saying right now?” Her voice was just above a whisper, too shocked to even speak clearly. Was Sana like her? Was she hiding who she really was from everyone else, too?

The vocalist shrugs her shoulders playfully, dismissing the tangible tension surrounding them. “I guess that’s for you to decide, isn’t it?” Sana mumbled, standing to collect her music. Dahyun watches her, still too shocked to move a muscle. She began thinking up of a million different ways to worm her way out of Sana’s indirect accusation.

“I-I wrote this song in the perspective of a man to get the correct feeling behind it,” the pianist suddenly says, her words rushed as they come out of her mouth. “This song is about a man who thinks he isn’t good enough for his significant other and feels the need to shy away from her in order to protect both of their images.”

Dahyun’s never been a good liar. Her voice, shaking and high pitched, betrayed her. She audibly gulped when Sana’s hand froze in midair, fingers still reaching for the sheet music. “Are you sure that’s what this song’s about?” Sana asked, her voice a solid straight line.

 She peered down at the pianist with a knowing look dancing in her dark eyes. The corner of her mouth curled into a small smile. Dahyun looked at her then, really looked.

She was beautiful beyond belief, with her large doe eyes and her sweet personality. Dahyun thought about kissing her again. Maybe Sana was right. Maybe it wasn’t. But Dahyun would never tell. It was still a secret; their secret now.

A hand caresses down the side of Dahyun’s face, and the pianist’s eyes flutter shut for a split second. She reopens them to find the vocalist gazing down at her, eyes ever so expressive, lips slightly parted, as it beckoned Dahyun to tilt her head and lean in.

“You know,” the vocalist whispers, leaning down until they were at eye level. Dahyun finds it difficult to look at anything but the other woman’s lips, a mere breath away. Sana’s thumb rubs a soft circle into her cheekbone, her eyes dark and pooling with something deeper than mischief. “You don’t have to hide from me.”

With that, Sana leaned away, clearing her throat again as she shuffled through her music. Dahyun remained rigid, lost in the moment where she had felt the fanning of Sana’s breath mingling with her own and witnessed Sana look at her with fire blazing in her eyes. “Let’s take it from the top,” Sana said, clapping a hand on the pianist’s shoulder.

“Shall we?”

 

**

 

When they part from the practice rooms, it’s nearly one o’clock in the morning, and they tumble out of the practice room as if they were drunk. Bleary eyed and weary, the pair make their way towards the exit of the building in silence. Today, there aren’t as many students about, but they do hear the muted sound of a violin shrill as they leave the area.

“Oh!” Sana exclaims, pausing as she flips open her music folder. Dahyun watches, curious, as the vocalist thumbs through the various pages of music. A moment later, Sana draws on out with the flick of her wrist and hands it to her. “I almost forgot! Here’s the lyrics to my song you wanted me to write out for you.”

Dahyun smiled and carefully placed the sheet into her own folder. “Thank you, Sana-chan.” They hadn’t gotten around to practicing Sana’s song that night, they’d succumbed quickly to the temptation of the need to sleep. They deserved the night to come to an end after spending three hours together.

Rehearsing wasn’t the only thing they did, but it had made up most of the time crammed within the practice room. Eventually, they lulled into talking about their other finals, then began chatting about their favorite bands or celebrities or songs.

Dahyun easily could’ve stayed there for another hour or two, with her eyelids drooping and Sana’s melodic voice filling her ears as they chatted about anything and everything that came to mind. But Sana had to wake up early the next morning to attend a study session for one of her engineering courses, and so they promptly packed everything up.

Quietly, the two college students made their way towards the double doors leading outside into another blissfully temperate Spring night. “We should text each other our little videos, too,” Dahyun suggested. “That way we can get a better feel for each other’s pieces for tomorrow before we come back here and practice.”

Sana nodded along in agreement. “Sounds good. By this rate, I think we’ll probably have everything done in another day or two. Thank god. I’ve still got a ton of studying to do before next week rolls around.” They step out into the artificial light of the building, then slowly make their way across the lawn, darkness coating them with every step.

“Alright,” Dahyun breathed out. This was where they parted. They’d reached their break off point beneath one of the campus lamps, facing each other in an arc of golden yellow surrounded by the black of night. Dahyun felt exhausted, but the good kind.

Her fingers were a little sore from playing for so long and improvising little parts for Sana’s song, but it was a good burn. A satisfying one all the same. Her eyes were drooping, a telltale sign she was about to fall over and sleep on the damp grass of the music building’s lawn.

For the first time that night, Dahyun wondered how Sana’s throat felt in comparison. The vocalist had left the room multiple times to refill her water bottle and the sound of her clearing her throat almost became like clockwork to Dahyun. She’s glad that they’d only really rehearsed the song fully around three times, and resorted to humming the rest.

She hoped it wouldn’t hurt the vocalist too much in the morning. They still had to go over Sana’s song tomorrow night. Dahyun felt a surge of excitement ebb away at her exhaustion. She was going to see Sana the next day, and then the day after that.

Needless to say, Dahyun was looking forward to it. “Good night, Sana-chan. Make sure you drink lots of tea tomorrow,” the pianist murmured. A million watt smile took over Sana’s tired expression, causing the pianist to flash her own little grin in return.

“Good night, Dahyun-chan!” The vocalist said in a cheerful, upbeat tone. She reached a hand out and touched Dahyun’s shoulder. The pianist ignored the way she longed to lean into the other woman’s touch. “Please do a few stretching exercises to keep those fingers of yours nimble enough for tomorrow.”

With a wink, Sana made her exit. The pianist waited beneath the light, watching her go, still feeling the imprints of Sana’s fingertips lingering on her arm, tingling underneath her shirt sleeve. _Did her and Sana really share the same secret?_ Her mind was too muddled with unheard melodies and pitches for her to think straight.

She turned on her heel and headed home, humming Sana’s song in her head. Just like herself, the Japanese woman had written a sad power ballad. Sana’s followed somewhat of the same motif, a shattering heartbreak filled with remorse for all the things that should have been done but weren’t.

Even though the theme wasn’t exactly original, Sana’s lyrics were completely her own She didn’t steal mainstream phrases that Dahyun had heard on the radio a thousand times before. The name was interesting as well. _Gone with The Moonlight._

Though she had only heard the song once before from Sana’s video, bits and pieces of the melody remained with her as she made her way back to her apartment. In her mind, Dahyun could already hear the chords and notes and glissandos blending together with the mellow sound of the piano. When she closes her bedroom door behind her, she breaks out another few sheets of blank composing paper.

It was going to be another late night. Dahyun could sense it in the way her hand took off writing the second she laid the pencil to the page. On her laptop, she opened up an application displaying a digital keyboard, and plugged in her earbuds to the device.

With perfect timing, her phone lit up and she opened a text from Sana containing the singing video from yesterday. Grinning, Dahyun texted a quick thank you and sent off her own piano video. She downloaded the video and listened to it dutifully.

She memorized Sana’s song until she was certain she could hum all of it in her head without missing a pitch. Then, she began slowly building the piano piece around it, singing along to herself. With one hand, Dahyun began scribbled down the piano accompaniment.

With the other, she played the notes on her laptop’s keyboard in order to make sure that they matched with Sana’s voice correctly. It was tedious work at first, where she stared at the display of her laptop in a daze, unsure of where to even start. But once she started going, the melodies began pouring off of her fingertips in easy going waves of music.

For as long as she could keep her eyes open, Dahyun kept writing and playing and working, all the while thinking constantly of Sana.

 

**

 

Dahyun woke up the next morning around ten, with her neck aching and her hands still clutching at her pencil in one hand. Sana’s music was still playing in her earbuds, circulating over and over again, and the dappled sunlight pouring in from the open shutters of her bedroom window glittered over her like liquid gold.

It was a beautiful day outside, with the sun beaming down at her from behind a flash of sparse cloud cover. It would be summer in just a couple weeks, Dahyun could feel it in the air.

She was lying beside her computer, which by some stroke of a miracle, _hadn’t_ died last night, on top of her bed in a tangle of the cords of her earbuds. Realizing she was going to need to boost the battery she sat up and began fumbling for the charger.

Yawning, Dahyun plugged the device in, along with her cellphone, and then padded into her apartment kitchen to make herself a late breakfast. Feasting on the remnants of cold take out and a carton of microwavable macaroni and cheese, Dahyun set about humming the tune of Sana’s piano accompaniment from her memory.

She couldn’t seem to get it out of her head, nor the image of Sana herself, belting out the notes of both of their songs and flashing her the same alluring smile. Not only was the vocalist’s singing hypnotic, but her visuals were also so impressive they had imprinted in Dahyun’s mind.

Once Dahyun heated up her food, she brought it into the bedroom and set about listening to the recordings she had made the night before from her phone’s voice memos. For the most part, everything was matching up much better than Dahyun had even expected.

“Not bad for running on fumes,” the pianist praised, bobbing her head along to the tune as she munched. The tempo was stable, the notes lined up, it fit the mood of Sana’s somber lyrics. Just a couple more hours and she thought the accompaniment would be polished and ready to go.

A wave of giddiness came over her at the realization she would be seeing Sana again later that evening, that they would be spending more time together. She flipped through the numerous text messages Sana had sent her that morning, each ranging from “Good morning” to a slew of hilarious quips about her Organic Chemistry study group to which type of coffee she should try next at the library’s coffee shop.

Despite only knowing each other for three days, they had made leaps and bounds into their friendship so far. Dahyun could only hope that Sana felt the same way she did, that she held the same secret, embedded in the lyrics of both of their songs.

_Behind Closed Doors_ and _Gone with The Moonlight_ , both conveying such sadness and loneliness, yet both brought each of their searching souls together and, Dahyun hoped, would show just how much they found _together_. Or perhaps she was still the hopeless romantic her friends made fun of her for being. Dahyun could only hope she wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

After finishing her breakfast and sending a few of her wittiest responses to Sana, Dahyun took a quick shower and readied herself for a long day of studying. She had planned to meet up with some of the students in her Abstract Algebra class in one of the study rooms of her apartment complex in an hour or so.

For a quarter of the time Dahyun spent with the other students, she slacked off a little bit and kept up the string of conversation Sana had started earlier. The pianist wasn’t particularly worried about her finals yet, they would come into play next week, giving her at least six days of preparation before she had to take them.

When eight o’clock finally rolled around, Dahyun was making her way across Kyung Hee’s expansive campus towards the Crown Concert Hall. Her music folder was tucked underneath her arm and she was jamming out to classical music as she walked.

She passed by multiple students lounging beneath the shade of trees, studying in small groups or by themselves, having picnics in the beautiful weather while it lasted. A breeze blew a stream of cherry blossom petals through her hair, and Dahyun smiled.

Despite the never-ending lack of sleep, the piling on of term papers, and the hours spent studying due to school, spring was still Dahyun’s favorite season. Watching all the foliage around her slowly bursting forth with life gave her a sense of motivation and liveliness.

The earth was gradually changing, giving way to lush green grass and pale blue skies that promised long days basking in the sunlight. A new start, as cheesy as that sounded. Dahyun even felt as though she were turning over a new leaf, a new side of herself, all thanks to Sana.

Speaking of the Japanese vocalist, her phone buzzed with a text just as she reached the steps up to the entrance of the music building. Pausing to glance at the screen, she was surprised to find that Sana was already waiting for her, though the location of their arranged meet up had changed.

“The auditorium?” Dahyun said, frowning slightly. “Isn’t that closed off for the semester now?” Shrugging her shoulders, the pianist sent a quick confirmation that she was on her way and then made her way up the steps and through the front door.

Dahyun could hear faint sounds from the practice rooms as she walked by, following the signs that led towards the main stage. In her stomach, she felt a few nervous flutters. As a music composition major, Dahyun had been inside the Crown Concert Hall auditorium various times throughout the years she’d spent studying.

But even the multiple visits couldn’t take away from the breathtakingly beautiful stage held within the building. It got her blood rushing every time with its double decker balconies, rich red carpeting, and warm earthy tones. Truly, it was one of her favorite places on campus, especially when she performed.

Pushing her way backstage through thick double doors, Dahyun felt another wave of tension course through her veins. Were they truly going to be practicing onstage? Was this...allowed? Dahyun wasn’t entirely sure, but she sure as hell would go with it if that’s what Sana wanted to do.

 She had to admit, it’d be amazing to record their music performance finals with wondrous acoustics of the stage, and the thought had even crossed her mind last night when they were practicing Dahyun’s piece together.

 Padding softly towards the mainstage, Dahyun passed by heavy sandbags, the long and thick curtain ropes tied down fast against hard black railings along the walls. It was dark, but the brightly lit stage lights poured forth through the large gap in between the drawn curtains.

Stepping out from behind them, Dahyun took in the sight of Sana, sitting with her back turned atop the black bench of a stunning grand piano. For a brief moment, she paused, running a hand over the velvety material of the curtain, breathing in the moment of the scene before her.

Sana was humming to herself, tapping her foot against the stage floor to keep her tempo. On the piano music rack, Sana had spread out her sheets of music and seemed to be quietly rehearsing.

There was a water bottle on the floor, filled to the brim with icy water, beside on of the piano bench legs. Sana’s backpack was propped up beside it. The blazing lights of the stage were nearly blinding to look at head on, causing Dahyun to focus on the vision of Sana as she peeled herself away from the curtain.

The vocalist’s hair nearly seemed to be set afire by the spotlights, like the halo of a descending angel surrounded her. At the sound of Dahyun’s approaching footsteps, Sana straightened and looked over her shoulder. Smirking, the vocalist stood to greet her.

“About time you got here,” she quipped, “I was wondering how much longer you were going to make me wait.” Noticing the awe playing out on Dahyun’s face at the set up around them, Sana giggled and led the pianist towards the instrument.

Sana swiped her music off of the music rack and leaned against the piano as Dahyun took her seat at the bench. The auditorium was in full effect, the resonant colors practically overwhelmed the pianist’s senses. “Isn’t this off limits?” Dahyun murmured cautiously, scanning the rows of empty seats, eyes tracing over the high dome of the ceiling.

“Don’t worry. I have a few friends in high places,” Sana said by way of explanation. The smile hadn’t left her face since Dahyun had walked up. “One works as a stagehand manager here and the other’s a sound technician.” Still bewildered, Dahyun looked over at Sana with wide eyes, shocked at how this day was turning out to be more and more like a dream come true.

“But wait, it gets even _better_ ,” the vocalist said. She pointed out the large metallic crane arm towering above them. “She’s up in the control booth right now ready to record us whenever we’re ready. That’s one of the best pieces of recording equipment this university has, it’ll pick up everything we do perfectly.”

Dahyun sets her music folder onto the music rack with a soft thud. She was still trying to decide if she were dreaming or not. “They both owe me _big_ time, so we have nothing to worry about,” Sana continued, shrugging her shoulders. “Weren’t expecting this, huh?” The vocalist asks, voice echoing within the large, unoccupied space.

The pianist had never been here before without a professor looking over her shoulder, but now that she was alone with Sana, Dahyun felt like shouting into the auditorium, just to hear and feel the freedom they possessed. “Not in a million years,” Dahyun breathed, still looking around. It felt as though she were looking at it for the first time, with fresh eyes.

“I’ve been here tons of times before for school, but never like this.” Sana joined her in admiring the theater for a moment, quietly surveying everything until her sights landed back on the pianist. “Kind of makes you wanna scream out, am I right?” Dana asks, leaning in with that gorgeous smile, eyes alight and amber dancing before her.

“How’d you know I felt like yelling just now?” Dahyun asked, laughing at how easily Sana seemed to understand her. The vocalist giggled along with her, “Go ahead! I did it a couple times before you came in. I always feel more alive on the stage, especially when there’s nothing holding me back.” Dahyun shot her an incredulous look, debating whether or not to go through with it.

A hand lightly smacks at her shoulder, causing her to squint up at the vocalist, her image filled with sun dots and rays of artificial light. “Come on!” Sana encouraged. “I hear it’s what actors do before opening night, as stress relief or a good luck charm kind of thing - a tradition. Might as well while you’ve got the chance, right?”

Sana _did_ have a point, and Dahyun supposed a shout or two wouldn’t hurt, especially not when final grades would be posted two weeks from now. “Here,” the vocalist said, reaching out a hand for Dahyun to take, “Center stage is the best place for spontaneous yelling.”

Just like that, Dahyun let herself be led in the middle of the limelight, hand in hand with Sana. Standing there together, the pianist imagined they were playing the lead roles in their own personal musical. The plot would be about two fearless young women defying the odds of the world around them, fiercely in love against reason, facing their opposition head on.

_Maybe I should become a screenwriter instead,_ Dahyun thinks to herself before Sana nudges her. “Well?” The vocalist waves her free hand out at the empty audience. “Your time is now, piano playing extraordinaire.” Nodding, Dahyun readied herself to bellow at the top of her lungs. If only there was something she could think up of to say.

_I love you?_ Dahyun thought to herself. _No, too much too soon._ Sana squeezed her hand. “Ready?” At the minute dip of the pianist’s head, Sana began slowly counting down. “Three.” This time, it was Dahyun who squeezed Sana’s hand, desperately trying to hold onto this moment, to memorize every last detail there was for her to take in. She couldn’t stop herself from looking into the molten gold of Sana’s eyes as the poured into hers.

“Two.” Dahyun forced herself to screw her eyes shut and face the audience, racking her brain for anything to say that wouldn’t give her true feelings away. She began drawing in a deep breath, ready to empty her lungs after the final number.

There came a tickling near her ear, the fanning of Sana’s breath rippling over the sensitive skin of Dahyun’s neck. A radiating warmth accompanied it, hovering just above her shoulder, but Dahyun didn’t dare open her eyes to find out what it was. “One,” Sana whispered into her ear.

Taking a step forward, Dahyun eyes snapped open and she threw her arms up into the air. “For our bright future!” Dahyun screamed, her voice ripping free from her throat and blossoming into the open air. Instantly, the sound began bouncing through the concert hall.

For at least thirty seconds, there was nothing but Dahyun’s message echoing back at them. “Did you hear it resonate?” The pianist asked excitedly, jumping up and down as she pumped her fists into the air. When she turned to look at Sana, the other woman was looking at her with that trademark stare again.

The one that made Dahyun feel sucker punched in the gut with nervousness and at the same time made her heart trill in her chest. As quickly as it came, the look disappeared as Sana threw her head back and giggled, tearing her eyes away from Dahyun’s questioning gaze.

“I sure did,” the vocalist said, nodding enthusiastically. “I think that’s got to be the craziest thing I’ve ever done, Sana-chan,” Dahyun replied, laughing, placing a hand over her rapidly beating heart. Screaming like that revitalized her, and she was almost certain she could punch through the walls if she tried.

Amused, Sana reached for her hand again, leading them back towards the grand piano. “I know, it’s so much fun to do. I wish I could have the auditorium all to ourselves whenever we wanted.” They reached the piano, and Dahyun let go of Sana’s hand as she sat down in front of the instrument. Sana flipped open Dahyun’s music folder for her.

“We’ve got this place cleared out for two hours until my friends kick me out.” Sana breathes out. She bends down to take a swig from her water bottle and then rises, one hand perched on her hip. “Let’s get started so we can get as many chances of rehearsing before we get to the final takes of recording our songs, sound okay?”  

 

**

 

Once their allotted two hours were up, the house lights illuminating the empty audience seats flickered twice. They had just finished up their last recording of Sana’s song, having already finished Dahyun’s earlier. Triumphantly, the two music lovers flashed each other smiles, knowing that they had finally completed their project to the best of their ability.

Dahyun carefully shut the piano fall board to protect the keys and tidied up their music into their separate folders. Sana swiped her backpack and water bottle from the stage floor and set about texting her friends a thank you message. As they walked off backstage, Dahyun stopped as they reached the door leading out into the music building and thanked Sana.

“Tonight has been one of the coolest performances I’ve ever done,” the pianist said, bowing at the older woman. She felt truly moved that Sana had called in a few favors from her friends in order for them to perform and record their songs privately inside of the concert hall. “Sana-chan, thank you so much for letting me be a part of your song.”

The vocalist broke out into a giggle, placing her arm around the shorter woman’s shoulders.  “Likewise, Dahyun-chan,” Sana replied. “I know for a fact my final project wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as it is now without your help.” Together, they pushed through the doors of the backstage and spilled out into the hallway, finally feeling the ache of exhaustion and exertion take over their bodies.

Dahyun cracked her knuckles and popped the joints in her neck, a little stiff from sitting down at her instrument for so long as they went. “I’m really glad you knocked on my practice room door a few days ago and asked me for coffee,” the vocalist chuckled as they padded along towards the entrance of the building.

“Who _knows_ what I would’ve been doing with my piece had you not.” Dahyun hummed her agreement with Sana’s words. Without Sana’s voice, she might not have found the perfect element to piece the final movements of her music score together. Not only that, but had Dahyun not taken the risk of asking Sana for coffee, neither of them might not have found each other.

Perhaps eventually, her and Sana bump into each other inside the music building. But due to the fact that Sana was an engineering major herself with only a minor in vocal performance, she spent most of her time taking classes in different buildings than Dahyun. The Crown Concert Hall truly was the only place they could have intercepted each other.

Dahyun smiles at Sana as they reach the doors leading out into the night. She’d always been a firm believer in fate working out the way it should. Their shoes padded across the walkway, footsteps leading them towards the familiar lamp that signified their parting paths.

For the first time, they were seeing each other off at a relatively normal time of the day. It just half past ten o’clock, with the inky dark seeping around them and the moon’s full face glaring down at them with its pale, pearly moonbeams.

The pianist realized as they stepped into the ring of tinted lamp light that this might possibly be the last time she got to see Sana before finals week swept in and everyone was thrown into the turbulence of stress and the act of moving out of dorms and finding work. She shivered merely thinking about it.

Sana seemed to sense the pianist’s internal turmoil and frowned. “What’s the matter, Dahyun-chan?” The vocalist stepped forward, eliminating the gap between them. She ran a hand through the pianist’s tousled hair with a look of concern, tilting Dahyun’s face up to so they were eye to eye with each other.

“Aren’t you glad we finished our musical performance final early? Now we can focus on studying for our other classes and preparing for our finals without having to worry about this anymore,” Sana reasoned, searching in the dark of Dahyun’s eyes for an answer.

The pianist sighed and tilted her head away from Sana’s soothing touch. “It’s nothing, really,” Dahyun mumbled, bowing her head again. She tugged at the edges of her music folder, too nervous to speak her mind. “Are you sure?” Sana repeated firmly, smoothing out the grip Dahyun had on the flimsy plastic of her folder.

“Well…,” the pianist trailed off, flinching away again from Sana’s fingertips. She felt a spike of nervousness erupt inside of her. This was the part Dahyun was the most unsure of out of everything else.

Would Sana still want to see her even after they’d finished each other’s songs? Or was this just another classic college class friendship, where you never spoke to each other again once everything was over? “We’re going to see each other after this, right?” She laughed but it came out a little high pitched and squeaky.

After a moment of silence of intense staring between them, Sana threw back her head in laughter and clung onto Dahyun’s arm for dear life. “Hold on,” the vocalist says, “That’s what you were worried about?” The sound of Sana’s laughter fills the night air, blending in with the soft rustling of the leaves of the trees surrounding them.

Bewildered by the older woman’s reaction, Dahyun can only take a step backwards and stare in disbelief. “I thought you were gonna…,” Sana trails off, still giggling to herself. “Never mind.” She gives Dahyun one last, long look, and says, “Don’t worry. After the semester ends, we’ll figure something out. I’m confident we will.”

Taking another step towards the younger woman, Sana winks. Her eyes dart down to Dahyun’s lips then back up to meet her eyes as she draws near, and Dahyun sucks in the sigh of relief she’d almost breathed out. “Goodnight, Dahyun-chan,” Sana whispered before placing a gentle kiss on Dahyun’s cheek.

With another smile, Sana turned on her heel and began walking off across the campus, one strap of her backpack slung over her shoulder. Dahyun’s skin prickled where the vocalist had kissed her, warm and soft just below her cheekbone. “Goodnight, Sana-chan!” Dahyun called, waving an arm in the air before turning towards her apartment.

By the time she made it to her front door, her fingers were still caressing over the smooth skin of her cheek, replaying the sensation over and over again.

Dahyun fumbled with her keys for a moment before making her way inside, ready to collapse onto her bed and sleep the next day away. As she washed her face and brushed her teeth, she couldn’t shake Sana’s song from her mind, knowing that the music they made would always tie them together in some sort of way.

She rinsed her mouth out with water, then padded into her bedroom to change into her pajamas. As her eyelids flicked shut, she dreamt she could still see Sana standing in front of her - in the impenetrable darkness of the night and in the impeccable light of the stage. She saw music notes swirling around them and reached a hand out to swipe at one of them.

Drifting off, Dahyun succumbed to sleep completely. She caught sight of Sana staring at her as she grappled with the imaginary notes, giving her that same love riddled look she had always given her.

  


**

 

Two days after Dahyun and Sana had recorded their pieces, the pianist got a text from the older woman containing two separate files. Sana’s friends had speedily finished refining their recordings and the vocalist was passing it on to be shown to their professors. Dahyun smiled at the fact that Sana had included both pieces.

She had been meaning to ask Sana if she could have both since the songs had become dear to her, but hadn’t gotten around to asking about it yet. Dahyun texted back a quick thank you, and then the rest of their chat was silent.

Not that Dahyun minded, of course. She was busy beyond belief as it was, and hardly glanced at her phone. Most of her time was spent with her nose in her textbooks, studying, and inhaling ramen whenever she could. There was no doubt in Dahyun’s mind that Sana was most likely even more swamped than she was, she had heard wild stories about engineering majors from her friends about how insanely difficult their courses were.

Luckily for Dahyun, she breezed through her end of course exams like a champ. School was officially out for the summer, and Dahyun had decided to take a stroll around campus to ease the tension in her shoulders. Everything would be shutting down within the upcoming week.

As she sauntered by one of the many apartment complexes, she noticed a gaggle of college students crowding the curb with their packed luggage. They were piling their bags and suitcases into the line of cars pulled up to the sidewalk at a hurried pace, eager to get away from the college campus and begin their summer vacation.

Just as the pianist was about to look away in disinterest, a particular brunette caught her eye. “Sana-chan!” Dahyun called out, voice ringing across the campus grounds. The Japanese vocalist whirled around on her heel towards the sound of Dahyun’s voice.

A wide, easy smile spread slowly across her face before she bid goodbye to the people she’d been talking to and ambled her way to where Dahyun was standing. “What’s up, Dahyun-chan? It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” She asks cheekily, laughing.

It seemed like nothing had changed. Sana was still beautiful and her voice was still soft and sweet and soothing at the same time. “Yeah…,” the pianist said, taking in the sight of the piles of luggage Sana had left behind with her friends.

“Are you leaving town already?” Loud and clear, her disappointment shone through her voice and the way her lips quirked down into a slight frown. “Actually, I’m not leaving to go home for a couple weeks,” Sana said, catching where Dahyun was staring.

“I was just helping my friends move their luggage down before the taxi man got fed up with how slow they were moving, that’s all,” the vocalist giggled. Sana clears her throat and refocuses on the flustered young woman in front of her.

“Anyways, what were you going to say? Sounded a little urgent for you to come running up and everything,” the vocalist chuckled, shooting a bright smile Dahyun’s way.

“Well, I got to thinking after I finished my last exam...maybe you’d like...want to go out - I mean, hang out before you leave for Japan? Together?” Dahyun asks hopefully, rocking back and forth on her heels to ease away the amount of nervousness she felt coursing through her veins.

“You mean like go out on a date?” Sana asks innocently, tilting her head to the side. The corner of her lip was curling up into a gentle smile, and her eyes were twinkling in the light, dazzling Dahyun. The pianist opened her mouth, then promptly closed it, unsure of how to respond to the older woman’s question.

Because _yes,_ she _did_ want to ask Sana out on a date. But she was also afraid that she’d read the signs all wrong, that perhaps Sana had just been joking about the whole secret thing. Perhaps Sana has been straight all along. Dahyun stood there, rigid, suddenly questioning everything she and the vocalist had ever said to each other.

“Dahyun-chan?” Sana called softly, taking one of the pianist’s palms in between her hands. One of the things she liked the most about the vocalist was just how gentle she could be, the lightest of touches, the silkiness of her voice, the power she held with just a glance. It made Dahyun’s knees feel as though they were going to go out.

“Y-yes?” Sana shyly took a step closer, rubbing Dahyun’s hand in between hers. “I think I know what you’re thinking,” the vocalist whispered, eye to eye with the pianist. Dahyun was beginning to lose herself in the pools of liquid gold flashing in Sana’s eyes. “I would _love_ to go out on a date with you.”

For a moment, Dahyun says nothing, too shell-shocked to even breathe. And then, just as she and Sana had done in the Crown Concert Hall, Dahyun just let it all go. “Hell yes!” The pianist screamed, tackling Sana into a bear hug that nearly sent them sprawling onto the pavement.

There was no doubt about it. Everyone in that dorm hall, everyone on sidewalk loading their cars, had heard Dahyun’s voice resonate through the walls, filled to the brim with untamed excitement and enthusiasm.

“Did you hear that?” Sana asked, stifling a giggle as she looked down at the pianist in her arms. “Your voice actually _echoed_ off the building.” Dahyun joined in laughter with Sana. “I don’t care if everyone on this campus heard that,” she admits. “As long as I still have you.”


End file.
